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Somehow I ended up watching From 5 to 9 yesterday. It had been years since I last earnestly watched a j-dorama. I was pretty much into it especially before I started working in Indonesia. I had also watched a handful of them on Neflix, but not with the same dedication or frequency as I had before. And Yamapi! Back then I was on a mission to watch everything he had ever appeared in. And so when I watched this 2015 dorama…

Yeah, I’ll just leave that to your imagination.

Anyway, considering that it had been a long time, I’ve come to realize just how different I view things these days. For one, From 5 to 9 has some pretty cringe-worthy scenes: every stolen kiss is pretty much sexual harrassment, and Yamapi’s Takane is a creepy stalker. Good thing he is so good-looking! You can stalk me anytime!!! (Love you, J!) And also… I thought Buddhist monks have to have shaved heads! And why is he so rich? Isn’t his car too nice for someone who is supposed to have relinquished all wordly possessions?

But then I stuck through all 10 episodes of it, binge-watched till 1.30 am, then did almost nothing all Saturday except stay glued to my screen. I guess it is good to turn off your brain once in a while and just enjoy the experience and be entertained. It’s a shame that for me j-dorama has become a guilty pleasure. Practical stuff, real life, adulting…. I have to consciously make myself escape reality to not spoil the fun.

I’m not gonna lie. I had fun. Tears were shed. I felt happy and satisfied. It’s not the best, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Saturday that was meant to be spent marking papers was instead spent lazy and in bed. Maybe I will give it my best tomorrow? Just now I was watching a Japanese show on Netflix called Kantaro: The Sweet Tooth Salary Man. It is literal food porn. Like 12 minutes into the pilot Kantaro is in ecstasy while waiting for his anmitsu. Anyway, why does it always have to be about food? There is this other show on Netflix with the same theme… a retired guy off to enjoy his newly found free time by treating himself to nice meals. It is too hard to watch especially when one is on a diet. But lol, who am I kidding? Here I am typing away with my Starbucks lemonade, having just finished a panini. I broke my four-day keto diet streak a couple of days ago, and I figure I can allow myself another day since I will be heading to a birthday party with a rumored eight-course meal later for dinner. Maybe I will give it my all tomorrow?

It’s unbelievable but it’s the holidays again in a week. I have already booked all my flights (and am now poor by USD700) but other than the empty sensation in my pocket it hasn’t sunk in yet. Going home, being there for a few days, and then heading to Taiwan with J. Maybe for the last time? I don’t know. An empty feeling that hasn’t sunk in yet. Uncertainties are like that.

I wish I can wait for it, like how our guy Kantaro anticipates his sweet anmitsu.

Been recently out of the loop. I had been so busy with work and other stuff that I had little time for everything else that I used to do before. I got rid of my fb and I haven’t been around much. Found out just now, when I visited DA on a whim, that Yoshimura Hideki of the Bloodthirsty Butchers had passed on the 27th of May. He was 46.

I always thought that when I do have a chance to visit Japan, I’d go to one of their lives. They always seemed to be around. Not anymore. Now I want to cry.

toe recently announced an Asian tour and they’re coming to Manila on the 19th of April. I’m checking flight schedules. Fucking crazy. It’s unlikely that I’ll do something crazy like go back home for a weekend to watch a concert. It’s on a Friday, too, on a week where we have work. Le sigh.